Thinking of buying the Phonic Helix18FW

  • Thread starter Thread starter brsanko
  • Start date Start date
Phonic better than Alesis with Firewire

When I first went to rebuild my studio, I tried an Alesis Multimix and had major issues with it. I was having great problems integrating it with Sonar 6. I sold mine and then found the Phonic Helixboard Firewire 24. I was blown away that it was only $700.00! There are a couple of really great options available with the Helix. One is that it's the only 16 channel firewire mic pre out there. The other is that you can change a set of jumpers in the back of the board so it will send the signal to the computer post fader. This allows for an enormous amount of flexability, giving the option for inputting effects and also using the onboard filter on the inputs! I've had mine for about a year now with no problems. The Multimix just doesn't have the kind of flexability that the Phonic has. Phonic has been around for a while, they're just not very well known. I would suggest this board over any Presonus or Alesis product. This unit is definitely the future of recording.
 
brsanko said:
I've been looking at mixers and interfaces and I can't find anything at anywhere near the price that offers as many features and capabilities. Is there any reason I shouldn't buy this board, sound quality, build quality, software, ect? Thanks for your input.
Brett R. Sanko
Click to expand...

Phonic have pretty poor quality. I would probably go with a Behringer over the Phonic myself.
 
cjpmugsr said:
When I first went to rebuild my studio, I tried an Alesis Multimix and had major issues with it. I was having great problems integrating it with Sonar 6. I sold mine and then found the Phonic Helixboard Firewire 24. I was blown away that it was only $700.00! There are a couple of really great options available with the Helix
Click to expand...

The one i had, the firewire 24 something had non stop cracking and popping issues. Turned out not to be a latency problem. Most of the solder on the various boards throughout the whole thing was applied too cold and so the thing would randomly lose connection or just sound like ass.

Also, the preamps have zero dynamic range.

And the support for Phonic is 1 dude who is stoned alot.
 
THE MATRIX is CHANGING --- THE [NEW] ONE!

therage! said:
brsanko,

What exactly are you going to be recording? It really comes down to just how many inputs you need and how you want to mix. Your at a price point where your going to saddle a decent interface with a crappy mixer. With that setup you will most certainly want to mix in the box so you will only be using the mixer for it's pre's and routing.

I've struggled for awhile on getting a new interface (my setup was Delta 1010 and an Alesis Studio 24 mixer) and when I came across the new Yamaha mixers (N12/N8) I finally figured out the N12 is a perfect solution for may home recording people. I got an N12 without hearing one in person and I was nervous until I sang into one of the preamps and I am totally impressed.

A lot people (I've been there) doing home recording get hung up on I/O and tend to overkill and go buy more expensive interfaces and mixers and they never come close to utilizing all the I/O. A lot of people (I'm not saying you) when starting out do not get the grasp right away on routing and really...bussing. That's why in many cases a smaller I/O interface and mixer will work perfectly.

I'm going to throw the Yamaha N12 out there as a recommendation for you. At $1500 you are getting excellent converters and damn nice preamps and Yamaha's Rev X reverb which I have discovered over the past week smokes any reverb plugins I have, which are the ones built into Sonar Producer and Cubase AI. This reverb sounds more natural than any plug I've heard, but of course this is all subjective. The N12 also has a really good built in compressor that has really surprised me too.

To be honest when you consider how the N12 is integrated with Cubase (and most of that integration works with other programs like Sonar and Reaper) the smaller N8 would be perfectly fine for most people. I chose the N12 to have enough pre's for miking drums. If you don't need that an N8 would be ideal and for $1,000 you are NOT going to BEAT the sound quality, period. Perhaps you could match it but when you consider getting that Yamaha reverb and compressor in the deal it's hard to beat. I don't see any company that has a mixer like the N12/N8. You could get a Mackie with their firewire card, but the N12 converters are way above them and your not going to get outstanding reverb with a Mackie.

Let me know if you have any question on the N8/N12. I'm new to it but just cannot get over the sound quality on these units. And one other nice little thing is I don't have any cables running all over except for what I plug into a preamp or insert.

http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/n8n12/features.html
Click to expand...

Whaa? You kidding me? What's to think about? Listen to what 'therage' is saying bro and just DO IT! You'll never look back. Caveat, the MR816CSXs by the partner company has the same features w/o the routine analogish mixer controls that becomes a cost benefit decision OF NOT price differential, rather studio ergonomics -- i.e., stacking these units veertically (Steinberg) or horizontally across a wide table/desk (Yamaha), and that of how you like your workflow to flow.

e.g., I'm an analog mixer guy from over 30 years back (small, medium, large, and monster mixers) so all this ITB is all cybergeek to me when it comes to proaudio creative workflow. I'm not the white smock, pens in the pocket, mouse and midi controller tweaking ever parameter on a digital screen kinda guy. I need buttons, knobs, sliders, panners, and fvvking peak meters boucing back at me when the music is recording and playing back. a Cappice?

Dude I'm not disparaging digital plugs. I love VST native UAD1 UAD2 and Waves wonderlust crappola, but I need to control them from MIXER/DESK type platforms in realtime back and forth from outside of the box w/o latency at high samplig rates using inside of the box tools. Getit? Its a hybrid approach, but I can only afford so much outboard gear, and I can only afford so much outboard gear space. So I have what I have amassed, and augment that with what I wish I had space and more money for. In all actuality, I have the money, but why spend any more for what I don't have too?!?! Sorry for the sidetrack, but point made .... Green on my pocket stays green in my pocket. Anyway ...Now then ....

My preference is both: n12mixers for the studio and the CSX rack units for the road.

This stuff is gonna make the rest of the proaudio academy R&D classes of 1953 to the class of 2009 rethink their business models, architectural paradigms, and their R&D present and future in this market if they're gonna stay in the game, and start making products to build on this architecture, and stop building interfaces to make all the older and faulty closed-ended architectures work.

Here start here and get your brain resituated to the NEW market reality and forget the rest of the crappola on the market already by everybody out there who is still living in the old MATRIX of pro-audio.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/133358-yamaha-n-series.html

Is NEO the ONE to save us form the machines?
FAAK no maan. Yamaha-Steinberg is the ONE ...
the NEW ONE!

Cheers-

~skygod~
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top